Lungs
by xXwEcOuLdBeFreEXx
Summary: Alois is slowly withdrawing deeper and deeper into himself, and as he does, begins to wonder what would happen if he were to die suddenly. After a few small occurrences, he begins to wonder if Claude might possibly store some attachment or affection for him, but fears he's wrong.


Through a dark room, one window let in a single stream of grey light from the rainy world outside.

A boy, fourteen years of age, stood silently in the shadows. Simply looking out of the window. Watching. Waiting. Pondering the effects of loneliness and how funny it was that one could feel isolated even when in a room full of others.

A faint smile flickered across Alois Trancy's features before disappearing as Ciel Phantomhive's face suddenly appeared in his mind. Closing his eyes tightly, he let a sigh fall forth from his lips that echoed all about the room like the howl of one single gust of wind during a storm. Reminding him how empty the room was, how empty he was.

Ciel wasn't the one Alois wanted.

He strode across the floor, his shoes making little clicks against the wood, the sound ricocheting up to the ceiling before reaching his ears again. He breathed quietly on the window, creating a small cloud amidst the clean sheet of glass.

He pressed his index finger up against the fogged window, writing his name in small, neat letters that quickly faded as the warmth left the now smudged glass.

A-L-O-I-S T-R-A-N-C-Y.

Claude would dislike having to clean the window, but Alois couldn't have cared less about the inconveniences he created for his butler. He studied his name for a moment. Alois did like his name, didn't he?

It was the one that allowed him to start a new life, leave his old past behind. A new opportunity, he supposed, was a good thing, but that didn't mean it couldn't end even worse than it had started.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden creak of the door as it opened, letting a sudden ray of soft yellow light spill into the dark room. Alois turned, startled by the sudden noise interrupting the still silence, but relaxed when he saw it was only his tall, quiet butler. A childish grin spread across his face.

"Do something amusing, Claude; I'm bored."

His golden-toned eyes narrowed almost unnoticeably before he ignored his master's foolish request-sending a small spark of anger up the boy's spine-and replied with, "Your dinner is prepared...are you dining in here or would you prefer to eat elsewhere?"

Alois shook his head, a frown revealing itself in his own clear blue eyes.

"I don't want to eat. Go away and don't bother me. Your presence has disrupted my train of thought."

His butler stood in the doorway for a brief moment, hesitating, before turning abruptly and leaving, shutting the door with a quiet click.

Contrary to what he had requested of Claude, Alois wished that he would have stayed.

But, right now, he didn't know quite what to think or expect out of even his own behaviour. There was something perplexing him, something distracting his mind so he found it quite difficult to focus on hardly anything.

What was it that was causing him to think so oddly? Closing his eyes and attempting to clear his mind of the fog that had settled over his thoughts, he lay on the floor, trying to focus on nothing.

Hearing a faint noise, he glanced over at the crack under the door and saw Claude's feet still standing outside the room. Curious, he watched to see if his butler would re-enter the room.

However, oddly, Claude did nothing but stand there without moving or saying a word.

Why?

He stood up silently, sneaking across the floor and taking great caution as he did so. Attempting to startle his butler, he grabbed the doorknob and opened the door as quickly as he could but was surprised to find nothing.

Had he merely imagined Claude's shoes outside the door, seeing only what he wished to?

Or was this a completely different matter altogether?

"Claude?" He called out tentatively, his butler appearing almost instantaneously.

"Yes, your highness?"

Alois studied his expression, a guarded gaze blanketing his curiosity.

"Were you outside my door just now? You must tell me if you were or not...that's an order."

Much to his surprise, Claude's yellow eyes widened faintly, but after a few moments of hesitation, he nodded-his emotion briefly revealing itself just so Alois could tell he wanted to kick himself. How strange.

Without saying anything more, the boy waited until his butler walked down the hall, then proceeding to turn and walk outside into the rain, not caring that the water would soak his clothes.

He saw a strange correlation between the behaviour of Claude and his own-however, Alois failed to see how their moods and interactions were connected.

It was so unnerving, having to connect the puzzle pieces of his own personality...Alois hadn't felt that he had known himself in quite some time, but this...this was stranger than anything he had previously felt in any circumstance. He watched the rain form dark puddles in the soaked earth, drowning the flowers and the clusters of hay-colored grass around them. Overwhelming everything around him with water.

Alois himself didn't mind the rain. It was, he supposed, an inconvenience, but it had its own beauty-similar to the translucent folds of an open flame-a good thing if well contained, but it could become dangerous in just a matter of seconds.

Letting one warm breath of air escape his lips, he fell back into the rain and closed his eyes, the dreary landscape around him flurrying away and spiraling downward into a world of black.

The boy began to regain his consciousness a few moments later, feeling two strong arms around him and a towel wrapped around his thin frame as he was carried through the warm house.

His clear blue eyes contained a hint of confusion, but as he sneaked a glance upwards, the corners of his mouth turned upwards in a faint smile.

Claude. Of course.

Closing his eyes once more, Alois buried his face in Claude's shoulder, allowing his butler to assume the boy was still unconscious.

Claude carried him to his room, where he gently set Alois down on his bed so as not to wake him up, leaving momentarily to start a hot bath.

The smile remained on Alois's face for a fleeting moment as rivulets of water streamed from his hair and across his pale skin, his eyes fluttering open faintly to take in the soft light around him.

HIs butler turned and strode back into his master's room, an imperceptible amount of relief showing in his eyes when he observed Alois's state of semi-alertness.

"You gave us all quite the scare, you know."

He frowned, though he was genuinely touched by the small show of concern displayed by his butler.

"So? Is my bath ready yet?" He gestured towards the other room, where the tub was nearly full of hot water that sent small clouds of steam through the air. Claude responded with a faint nod, one strand of his ink-colored hair moving slightly as he did so.

"Would you care for some tea to warm you up?" He asked, sounding as if he could care less but nonetheless inquiring to his master's wants and needs-as was his job.

Alois pouted, his senses slowly flooding back to him as he regained alertness.

"I'd much rather you perform an amusing dance. That would do far more for me than tea. In fact, that's an order...as soon as I am finished with my bath, you must dance for me." He got up from the bed, pulling the fluffy, white towel around him like a cloak as he padded into the bathroom and closed the door quietly.

Allowing the towel to fall from his shoulders in a small pile on the floor, he shut off the faucet that had been permitting water to flow freely into the tub, which let off a faint squeak as the knob turned.

He peeled off his soaked clothes that clung to his deathly cold skin like a leech, stepping slowly into the steaming water. Alois sank into the tub and closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the chill of the rainstorm float away in the steam rising up to the ceiling.

He let his heavy-lidded eyes fall closed for one ephemeral moment.

What if..

An image flashed through his mind, his blonde head sinking lower and lower into the warm water as it swallowed him up, leaving not a single ripple behind to mark his presence-as if he had never been there at all..

Clenching his fists, he forced his eyes open and sat up. No, that was pathetic, really. Wondering stupid ideas such as that.

Of course, one couldn't help but wonder. What would happen if he were to simply die. Fade out. Disappear.

Alois wasn't as deluded to think that he would be missed-by then, there was no one left to miss him. Hannah, though she loved him, was a fearful creature-remarkably timid, her eyes running away as one single syllable left his mouth.

Possibly this was his fault; but all of that was too late to change now. Wasn't it? Of course it was-he was being foolish.

Would he want anyone to miss him?

HIs bit his lip in thought, turning the area where he had bitten down white as polished bone.

Claude...He would want Claude to miss him, if he was gone..

A faint layer of pink delicately blanketed his cheeks at the thought of his butler...missing him. What an odd situation.

He let out a small sigh; if Claude wouldn't miss him on his own, Alois would have to make him. That seemed to be the only option that would work in his favor...after all, his butler had no choice but to follow orders.

After rinsing out the soap that had worked itself thoroughly into his blonde hair, he stepped lightly out of the tub, wrapping a thick, white towel around him and, after drying off, stepped into a clean outfit his butler had laid out for him beside the sink.

His hair was still wet after he had dressed-tiny droplets of water streamed down several strands of his blonde hair, dripping onto his shirt and leaving small splotches of water where they landed.

Not bothering to pull on socks or anything of the sort, Alois padded barefoot down the hallway in search of his butler. Where had he gone, anyway?

"Claude!" He spoke loudly in the hallway, his voice echoing off of the walls and making him feel hollow. For a few endless seconds, he feared that Claude would not reveal himself-what an absurd thought. Of course he would, his butler was bound by contract to cater to the boy's every want and need.

Sometimes, Alois hated that fact. That Claude would do anything he requested-how the bloody hell was he to know if Claude would still stay by his side if it wasn't mandatory?

The reason why he detested it so, however, was because he knew the answer to that question, and it hurt like a freshly opened wound.

No matter what Alois said or did, Claude could never love him.

"Yes, young master?" His butler appeared in front of him in just a matter of seconds, interrupting the boy's thoughts with a distinct clicking sound against the floorboards and startling him quite a bit. After regaining his composure, Alois looked down at Claude's feet-noticing he was wearing tap shoes.

Hence the loud clicking.

"Why are you wearing tap shoes?" He asked, an amused grin revealing itself for a brief moment before his features, afterwards letting eyes shut down once more and that delicate, pale blush from before returning to his face. "Dance. Dance with me, Claude."

His butler stepped so he was directly in front of Alois, his curiously golden-toned eyes boring intently into the boy's own-his voice heard as a mere whisper.

"And what dance would you like me to perform?"

Alois looked up at him, returning his intense stare. Feeling his emotions rise from beneath the ground and coil up around him like a snake. Evoking something he hadn't felt previously, stirring up feelings he didn't know could exist. Alois hadn't felt true emotion in that extent...he didn't know what to do with it.

Instead of replying to his butler's question, he took hold of Claude's hand, bringing it to his mouth and pressing his soft lips to his pale knuckles.

His butler took one step back, startled-unusual behaviour, considering he generally conveyed no emotion of any kind whatsoever-no matter what the circumstance.

Alois looked down at his hand, which, he realized, was still holding Claude's.

He stared down at his feet, gradually moving his eyes up so they held the unnerving gaze of the demon standing before him. Saying nothing, doing nothing. Simply looking. Searching.

Pleading.

"Claude.." his quiet, quivering voice roared in his ears as it broke the iron silence that had reposed upon the hall.

"Claude...say something."

**TA-DA.**

**THE END..UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.**

**A SORTA NOT-REALLY-AT-ALL BRIEF NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR OF THIS. :3**

**To the reader-**

**Thanks for reading the whole thing, if you made it all the way down to here, that deserves recognition.**

**So here ya go.**

**I'm not entirely sure if I should continue this or not, depending on how badly I screwed up both Claude's and Alois's character. For the record-I have not seen a single episode of Black Butler with either character in it, and as my computer was being really screwy Internet-wise I could not change the fact. I apologize if I changed either Alois's or Claude's character, because that's one of the things that gets on my nerves the most. I attempted to show a deeper side of each character [mainly Alois, as he was obviously the main character and Claude's emotions and feelings on what happened during this brief story were not put into detail all too much-which leaves room for a sequel, if you guys are willing to put up with it], and I'm not sure if I succeeded in that or not.**

**Thank God for constructive criticism.**

**You guys are totally rad for reading all of this, by the way. Here's a cookie. *hands***

**Yours sincerely,**

**Vladimir [or xXwEcOuLdBeFreEXx]**


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